NEW YORK — Wall Street extended its pullback Wednesday as investors, retrenching from an optimistic stance early in the week, waited to see how well corporate earnings and the job market have held up in an uneven economy.

The market showed little conviction for a second day as economic readings offered few surprises and as investors looked for signs – possibly from the September employment report due Friday – of whether the market’s rebound from its summer lows has been warranted.

The decline Wednesday preceded earnings reports from the recently completed third quarter and Friday’s jobs number, which can signal whether consumer spending will continue apace. Wall Street had little reaction to a report that the nation’s service sector, whose industries account for 80 percent of U.S. economic activity, showed a decline last month.

Homebuilder stocks rose amid a sense among some analysts that the housing market might have hit bottom. Meanwhile, semiconductor shares mostly lost ground on concerns about pricing pressures.

“There are a lot of cross currents,” said George Shipp, chief investment officer at investment adviser Scott & Stringfellow in Richmond, Va. “The general pattern is that the U.S. economy is slowing.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 79.26, or 0.56 percent, to 13,968.05. The Dow moved back above 14,000 Monday after spending 2 1/2 months below that level amid concerns about soured mortgages, tighter access to credit and the housing-market slump.

Bond prices slipped Wednesday after the economic readings. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.54 percent from 4.53 percent late Tuesday.

Wall Street appears to be taking many economic readings in stride, perhaps expecting some slowdown before the Federal Reserve’s rate cut is reflected in economic data.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the service sector expanded at a slower pace in September than in August. The trade group’s nonmanufacturing index fell to 54.8 from 55.8 in August, as expected; the index is now at its lowest point since March. A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while a figure below 50 signals contraction.

More in Business

VF Corp, the holding company for popular outdoor brands such as The North Face, JanSport and Smartwool, announced Monday will move its global headquarters to Denver, bringing 800 high-paying jobs to the city.

"The optics are so obvious to so many people in this era of #MeToo," Steven Silvers said of Innovation Pavilion. "Their response to this crisis is going to have a far lengthier and more damaging effect on the company than if they handled it more directly."

The work, which ranges from remodeling some restaurants to scarping off and completely rebuilding older structures, is part of a $6 billion modernization effort McDonald's will roll out across the U.S. by the end 2020.